Achieving targets, attracting new customers, and engaging with previous and current clientele. As a professional in the automotive industry, you’re responsible for so many facets that it can be overwhelming. So when you’re asked, “Are you in charge of attribution?”, it can feel like just another item on an already overloaded plate. But that’s why you have a marketing team, right?

Of course, there are service providers and dealer partners who specialize in attribution. You might be wondering if it’s worth it to take attribution off of your marketing team’s plate and hand it off to a third party, but is that the right fit? There’s a cost associated with it, and since you’re staffing a few professional marketers already, does it make sense to invest even more into that department?

Every marketing manager runs into it from time to time. Poor response. And now the owner and general manager are breathing down your neck. 

What misfired? Was there a snappy photo? Yeah. Was the message concise? You consider it a bullseye. And the recipient list was so diverse, there’s no reason for the phones to be dead and the salespeople playing Minesweeper in the showroom.

Not every marketing campaign is going to be as resounding a success as you think it will be. But when it doesn’t go to plan, where do you look to figure out what went more sideways than James Dean on the drift circuit? The data.

In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, staying up to speed with the latest developments is key to staying ahead of the competition. This is particularly true in the automotive industry, where the customer journey can be complex, spanning multiple online and offline touchpoints. One area that has seen significant changes recently is attribution—the process of identifying which marketing efforts are driving leads and conversions. These changes are transforming the way we understand and optimize the car buyer’s journey.

In this post, we’ll delve into some of the major changes in attribution over the past six months, including Facebook’s response to Apple’s iOS 14 update, Google Ads’ shift to data-driven attribution, and the new capabilities introduced with Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Whether you’re a seasoned automotive marketer or new to the industry, this post will help you navigate these changes and leverage them to improve your marketing strategy.